St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-16
THE PRIVILEGE OF PRAYER,
AS Well As Its Duty--Rev. Gjertsen

on the Name Of Jesus.
At Trinity Norwegian Lutheran
church, Rev. Falk Gjertsen preached
from John xvi, %: ''Verily, verify, say
unto you, whatsoever We shall ask the
Father i'll my name, He will give it
YOU" Preaching on the theme of
Prayer" he said: The disciples had
prayed before, yet Christ teaches them
to pray in His name. He leads them a
step farther in the school of prayer.
Prayer in the name of Jesus is not a
special kind of prayer, but the highest
We must pray because God has com
manded it. 1t is our duty to
do, what he commands. And still we all
feel that this answer is not satisfactory.
We all feel that if we prayed in COM
mand like a soldier at his drill, this
would not be the right kind of prayer
The words of our text are less of COM
mand than permission. We are per-
mitted to pray. DO you realize what
that means? AS when a wealthy and
pOWererful man would say to you:
Whatever you need | will give it to you,
as often as you will come TO
so the Lord does here, he gives you the
key to his door of grace and says to you:
go in and take" In all need, want,
sorrow, struggle, you are permitted to
| pray. How do we pray right? When
we pray in the name of Jesus. 1t is the
name of Jesus that makes true prayer
possible. The heathens do not pray in
the true sense of the word. Israel
prayed, looking forward in hope to him
who should come. He is come, and has
reconciled us with God, taken away our
cir t.rn1 rfrt hi Cd. a4o
we look up to God and cry: "Abba,
Father"
The name of Jesus teaches rs what
we shall pray for. 1t draws a distinct
line. Those things that cannot be
brought in under the shadow of His
name is forbidden in prayer. You are
not allowed to pray for anything that is
| inconsistent with His name, but every
| thing that may be hallowed by His
name you may pray for, even earthly
| things. The name of Jesus teaches us
for whom men shall pray. AS He has
| loved all, she'd His blood for the world.
so our prayers shall embrace all. AS no
one is excluded by Him, so no one shall
be excluded from our prayer. 1t
shall reach as far as the line
of God and the name of Jesus
| The name of Jesus teaches us when we
| shall pray. We are united with Christ,
and his name lives in our hearts. and all
our life the great and the small things,
our holiday and every day, our Sabbath
and worllday, shall be c0ES ecrated
| through our communion with him. Look
at the blessings that prayer brings.
''WhatSoever We shall ask" The Lord
| gives us what we ask. Is it really so,
that God answers prayer? We know
| that many doubt it. How can God, they
! say, on our prayer do such things that
| he otherwise would not do? Does not
| everything take place in Il certain order
| according to Interchangeable laws: How
| then can our prayer change this course?
| All of these doubterS do not entirely re-
lcct prayer. but they think that the
blessing Of prayer does not consist in
that it IS answered, but therein. that the
praying individual himself finds q kind
OF rest and s0lacc, comfort in prayer.
| But then prayer isa deception and delu-
siou, if really nothing takes place on ac-
count OF prayer, if everything goes its
Interchangeable course il; spite of all
! prayers than prayer is q falSeloOd, a lie.
ana then it is honest to give it up
entirely and to admit that all
religion is q delusion, and that
there is no God. a god that does not
answer prayer is ho god, but dead
100, VINO mas no cars to hear, no eyes TO
see, no hands To help. no heart to love
and pity. Our God is not such q god.
lie has heart to love, He keeps Ills
promises. He answers or prayers. DO
you pray, in faith us child of God. III
the name of Jesus? Some cannot pray.
1t is not learned in schools and colleges ::
1t is learned only in one school. the
school OF the Holy Ghost. Ask God FOR
bis spirit, open your heart for its intlu-
cnce and you will spoI learn to pray